Servicing

Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp., Santa Monica, Calif., has priced 1 million shares of series A cumulative preferred stock at a liquidation value of $25 per share.The shares have an annual coupon of 8.625%. The underwriters have been granted an option to buy up to 150,000 additional shares to cover any overallotments. The net proceeds of the offering are expected to total about $23.9 million, or about $27.5 million if the overallotment option is exercised in full, the company said. Anworth is a mortgage real estate investment trust.

Aames Investment Corp., Los Angeles, has priced a public offering of 35 million shares of common stock at $8.50 per share and agreed to sell 5 million additional shares at the same price in a private placement.The gross proceeds from the public offering will be $297.5 million. The private placement, which provides for certain discounts, is expected to result in aggregate proceeds of $39.5 million, Aames said. The private placement was made with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc. The sole book-running manager of the public offering is Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Inc. Aames, a mortgage real estate investment trust, can be found on the Web at http://www.aames.net.

Freddie Mac is finding attractive pricing on adjustable-rate mortgages, including interest-only loans, according to the company's top investment officer, Patricia Cook."Agency and triple-A-rated nonagency ARM products currently represent an increasing percentage of our total purchases" for the retained mortgage portfolio, the executive vice president for investments said. "These products provide attractive risk-adjusted returns." Ms. Cook made her remarks in response to questions during a teleconference in which top Freddie executives briefed analysts and investors on the company's business outlook. On the investment side, "we permit IO mortgages to be included as collateral backing nonagency triple-A securities in which we invest," she said. Meanwhile, growth of the retained portfolio slowed to a 3.1% annual rate in September. Freddie executives estimate the growth rate for the year will be in the low to middle single digits.

Freddie Mac executives have reiterated their goal to release full-year 2004 financial results by the end of the first quarter next year and resume quarterly reporting with the second quarter, but they also warn that this timetable is "aggressive" and cannot be guaranteed.Eugene McQuade, Freddie Mac's president and chief operating officer, said the corporation remains on track to meet its financial reporting goals and hopes to report full-year 2005 results "on a timely basis." But Freddie Mac executives also said in a conference call with investors and analysts after the market closed Nov. 1 that missing a reporting target by a few days should not be seen as a cause for alarm. "We expect to be able to complete the process of catching up on our financial reporting with our 2005 results, but I caution that we still have a lot of work to do," said Martin Baumann, Freddie's executive vice president and chief financial officer, during the conference call. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.

Belvedere Trust Mortgage Corp., a subsidiary of Anworth Mortgage Asset Corp., Santa Monica, Calif., has completed its first securitization under a new shelf registration, according to Anworth.The deal, BVMBS 2004-1, involves the sale of approximately $600 million in securities issued by BellaVista Funding Corp., a subsidiary of Belvedere Trust. "Our goal is to expand our acquisition and securitization of high-quality mortgage assets," said Claus Lund, Belvedere's chief executive officer. The underwriters of the deal were Countrywide Securities Corp. and RBS Greenwich Capital Markets. Anworth is a mortgage real estate investment trust.

Three tranches of Solstice ABS CDO Ltd. have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings.The downgrades were as follows: class B notes, from AA to AA-minus; class C notes, from A-minus to BBB; and preferred shares, from BB-minus to B. Fitch said the downgrades stemmed from poor performance through impaired and defaulted assets. Assets rated below BBB-minus have increased from about 12% to over 25% of Solstice's outstanding collateral debt securities since February 2003, Fitch said. The proceeds of the collateralized debt obligation were used to buy an investment portfolio consisting chiefly of CDOs, residential mortgage-backed securities, commercial MBS, asset-backed securities, corporate debt securities, and real estate investment trusts. Fitch can be found online at http://www.fitchratings.com.

IndyMac Bancorp Inc., Pasadena, Calif., the holding company for IndyMac Bank, has reported pro forma net earnings of $56.4 million ($0.88 per share) for the third quarter, compared with net earnings of $49.7 million ($0.87 per share) a year earlier.The company said earnings were reported on a pro forma basis rather than under generally accepted accounting principles in order to provide comparability with its earnings reports in previous quarters. (The difference between GAAP and pro forma earnings in the third quarter stems from the implementation of SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 105 and purchase accounting adjustments related to IndyMac's acquisition of Financial Freedom Holdings Inc., the company said.) IndyMac produced a record $10.3 billion of mortgage loans in the third quarter, up 21% from the level of a year earlier, the company said. "The results this quarter were very strong due to solid execution on our two key strategies: to use our thrift portfolio capabilities to generate increased earnings and to increase market share as the mortgage industry transitions to a more normal post-refinance boom level," said Michael W. Perry. IndyMac's chairman and chief executive officer. IndyMac can be found online at http://www.indymacbank.com.

Saxon Capital Inc. has reported the securitization of nonconforming and conforming mortgages in a $900 million transaction.RBS Greenwich Capital was the lead manager on the deal, Saxon Asset Securities Trust 2004-3. Merrill Lynch & Co., JP Morgan, and Credit Suisse First Boston were co-managers. Saxon can be found on the Web at http://www.saxoncapitalinc.com.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is making it very difficult for warehouse lenders to conduct business in the state because of its "shocking" decision regarding bailee letters, according to WarehouseOne, a warehouse lender based in West Trenton, N.J.The idea that the potential purchaser "owns the notes in violation of the express terms of the bailee letters is shocking to any knowledgeable observer that reads the Court's decision," WarehouseOne general counsel Mark Loreto says in urging the state Supreme Court to vacate its decision in Pioneer v. CoreStates. Bailee letters are supposed to protect a lender's interest in loans when they are sent to potential investors for inspection. But the court ruled against Pioneer Commercial Funding Corp., even though the defunct California warehouse lender did not get paid for the loans it sent with a bailee letter. The $1.7 million payment was wired to the wrong lender, and CoreStates Bank NA, Philadelphia, used it to cover overdrafts by that lender. WarehouseOne contends that the state Supreme Court's validation for the conduct in the case provides a roadmap for fraudulent schemes. The decision also indicates that the Pennsylvania courts "stand ready to support those who perpetuate such frauds," WarehouseOne says in an amicus brief on behalf of Pioneer. Pioneer has petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to rehear the case. Wachovia Corp., which owns CoreStates, contends that the court correctly ruled that CoreStates had the right to offset the overdrafts.

LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., Richmond, Va., has announced an agreement to purchase LoanCare Servicing Center Inc., a mortgage loan subservicing company based in Norfolk, Va.The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. LandAmerica said LoanCare subserviced approximately 45,000 loans with principal balances of approximately $5 billion in 50 states and the District of Columbia as of Sept. 30. "This move is a strategic step toward reaching LandAmerica's goal of becoming the premier provider of real estate transaction services," said Charles H. Foster Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of LandAmerica. The company can be found online at http://www.landam.com.